The present invention concerns an expanded smart card architecture for communicating between the smart card application and a smart card or a virtual smart card in case the smart card or the smart card reader, for whatever reason, is not present or cannot be used.
With the introduction of new technology and programs which necessitate the use of smart cards, the problem of short term availability of smart card readers often arises. Workstations for users must be converted to new smart card readers which conform to this technology. This is often very laborious from a technical point of view and, particularly in large companies, takes a great deal of time. The result of this is that new technologies or programs have to be operated together with old technologies and programs in a transitional phase. This is both costly and labor intensive.
Defective smart card readers prevent transactions using the smart card. This can be economically disadvantageous both for the smart card owner as well as for the operator of the smart card reader, depending on the field of use.
In the case of a lost smart card, the owner is prevented from working with the smart card until a new card is issued. In certain cases, e.g. during long trips away, this can lead to problems for the owner. This is increasingly the case because many business activities require extensive use of the smart cards.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to produce a procedure and system which is able to avoid the above mentioned disadvantages.
The advantages of the present invention are that a virtual software smart card can be used instead of a physical smart card. The virtual software smart card represents a software solution and models the functions of a physical smart card on a user""s personal computer. New smart card designs may be tested using the virtual software smart card which simulates a hardware smart card. The creation of a virtual software smart card simulating a new smart card design is less time consuming and thus also cheaper than creating an actual smart card, making unnecessary smart card prototypes for testing the newly developed smart cards. In the case of loss of the physical smart card, the authorized user can download a virtual software smart card using a diskette, or over the Internet, into his system and continue to work using this virtual software smart card until a new smart card is issued.
Organizations and companies can use new smart card technology by making available virtual software smart cards, without all the systems having to be equipped with new smart card readers. For smart card manufacturers, the advantage is that new technologies can be tested in the later application environment before components (such as crypto-coprocessors, large memories, etc.) are available.
By introducing a common virtual smart card interface and a virtual smart card adapter, communication between the smart card application and the modules of the virtual smart card adapter is completely independent. For the smart card application, it makes no difference with which module of the virtual smart card adapter it is communicating. Modules routines access a physical smart card, a virtual software smart card or a hardware smart card with the functionality of a smart card. Changes to the modules or the virtual smart card adapter do not require any adaptation of the respective smart card application due to the common virtual smart card interface to the applications.